EducationĪfter studying at the Realschule, Karlstadt (later renamed the Johann-Rudolph-Glauber Realschule Karlstadt) in Germany the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague during the 1870s, Tesla moved to Budapest, where for a time he worked at the Central Telephone Exchange. But Nikola's interests lay squarely in the sciences. Tesla's father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian orthodox priest and a writer, and he pushed for his son to join the priesthood. Tesla's interest in electrical invention was spurred by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up. Tesla was one of five children, including siblings Dane, Angelina, Milka and Marica. Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia, on July 10, 1856. He sold several patent rights, including those to his AC machinery, to George Westinghouse. He also created the 'Tesla coil,' which is still used in radio technology.īorn in modern-day Croatia, Tesla came to the United States in 1884 and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways. Nikola Tesla was an engineer and scientist known for designing the alternating-current (AC) electric system, which is the predominant electrical system used across the world today.

Inventor engineer